Did Sherlock Holmes read it ?

Paris, on 1866, during French Second Empire, the widow Lerouge is found murdered in her cottage, in Bougival, on the banks of the Seine.

Police captain, Gévrol is in charge of the case. Lecoq, his young assistant, suggests to call old Tabaret.

Old Tabaret is an annuitant, a character from Balzac’s novels, whose hobby is to lead investigations. He is a consulting detective.

Here is his deductive method. Sherlock Holmes, whose sensational literature knowledge was immense, did he know it ?...

- I have solved the riddle ! said old Tabaret. It is all clear now, and as plain as noon-day.

- In the first place, said he, at last, in a tone of affected modesty, robbery has had nothing to do with the crime that occupies our attention.

I shall prove it by the evidence. By-and-by I shall offer my humble opinion as to the real motive. In the second place, the assassin arrived here before half-past nine ; that is to say, before the rain fell. No more than the police captain M. Gevrol have I been able to discover traces of muddy footsteps ; but under the table, on the spot where his feet rested, I find dust. We are thus assured of the hour.

The widow did not in the least expect her visitor. She had commenced undressing, and was winding up her cuckoo clock when he knocked.

- These are absolute details ! cried the police captain.

- But easily established, replied the amateur. You see this cucko clock above the secretary ; it is one of those which run fourteen or fifteen hours at most, for I have examined it. Now it is more than probable, it is certain, that the widow wound it up every evening before going to bed. How, then, is it that the clock has stopped at five ? Because she must have touched it. As she was drawing the chain, the assassin knocked. In proof, I show this chair standing under the clock, and on the seat a very plain foot-mark. Now look at the dress of the victim ; the body of it is off. In order to open the door more quickly, she did not wait to put it on again, but hastily threw this old shawl over her shoulders.

The widow knew the person who knocked. Her haste to open the door gives rise to this conjecture ; what follows proves it. The assassin then gained admission without difficulty. He is a young man, a little above the middle height, elegantly dressed. He wore on that evening a high hat. He carried an umbrella, and smoked a trabucos cigar in a holder.

- Ridiculous ! cried Gevrol. This is too much.

- Too much, perhaps, retorted old Tabaret. At all events, it is the truth. If you are not minute in your investigations, I cannot help it ; anyhow, I am, I search, and I find. Too much, say you ? Well deign to glance at these lumps of damp plaster. They represent the heels of the boots worn by the assassin, of which I found a most perfect impression near the ditch, where the key was picked up. On these sheets of paper, I have marked in outline the imprint of the foot which I cannot take up, because it is on some sand. Look ! heel high, instep pronounced, sole small and narrow,--an elegant boot, belonging to a foot well cared for evidently. Look for this impression all along the path; and you will find it again twice. Then you will find it five times repeated in the garden where no one else had been ; and these footprints prove, by the way, that the stranger knocked not at the door, but at the window-shutter, beneath which shone a gleam of light. At the entrance to the garden, the man leapt to avoid a flower bed ! the point of the foot, more deeply imprinted than usual, shows it. He leapt more than two yards with ease, proving that he is active, and therefore young.

Old Tabaret spoke in a low voice, clear and penetrating : and his eye glanced from one to the other of his auditors, watching the impression he was making.

- Does the hat astonish you, M. Gevrol ? he pursued. Just look at the circle traced in the dust on the marble top of the secretary. Is it because I have mentioned his height that you are surprised ? Take the trouble to examine the tops of the wardrobes and you will see that theassassin passed his hands across them. Therefore he is taller than I am.

Do not say that he got on a chair, for in that case, he would have seen and would not have been obliged to feel. Are you astonished about the umbrella ? This lump of earth shows an admirable impression not only of the end of the stick, but even of the little round piece of wood which is always placed at the end of the silk. Perhaps you cannot get over the statement that he smoked a cigar ? Here is the end of a trabucos that I found amongst the ashes. Has the end been bitten ? No. Has it been moistened with saliva ? No. Then he who smoked it used a cigar-holder.

Now, follow me closely. We have traced the young man into the house. How he explained his presence at this hour, I do not know ; this much is certain, he told the widow he had not dined. The worthy woman was delighted to hear it, and at once set to work to prepare a meal. This meal was not for herself ; for in the cupboard I have found the remains of her own dinner. She had dined off fish ; the autopsy will confirm the truth of this statement. Besides you can see yourselves, there is but one glass on the table, and one knife. But who is this young man ? Evidently the widow looked upon him as a man of superior rank to her own ; for in the cupboard is a table-cloth still very clean. Did she use it ? No. For her guest she brought out a clean linen one, her very best. It is for him this magnificent glass, a present, no doubt, and it is evident she did not often use this knife with the ivory handle.

Now, then we have got the young man seated. He began by drinking a glass of wine, while the widow was putting her pan on the fire. Then, his heart failing him, he asked for brandy, and swallowed about five small glassfuls. After an internal struggle of ten minutes (the time it must have taken to cook the ham and eggs as much as they are), the young man arose and approached the widow, who was squatting down and leaning forward over her cooking. He stabbed her twice on the back ; but she was not killed instantly. She half arose seizing the assassin by the hands ; while he drew back, lifting her suddenly, and then hurling her down inthe position in which you see her. This short struggle is indicated by the posture of the body; for, squatting down and being struck in the back, it is naturally on her back that she ought to have fallen. The murderer used a sharp narrow weapon, which was, unless I am deceived, the end of a foil, sharpened, and with the button broken off. By wiping the weapon upon his victim's skirt, the assassin leaves us this indication. He was not, however, hurt in the struggle. The victim must have clung with a death-grip to his hands; but, as he had not taken off his lavender kid gloves…

- Gloves ! Why this is romance, exclaimed Gevrol.

- Have you examined the dead woman's finger-nails, M. Gevrol ? No. Well, do so, and then tell me whether I am mistaken. The woman, now dead, we come to the object of her assassination. What did this well-dressed young gentleman want ? Money ? Valuables ? No ! no ! a hundred times no ! What he wanted, what he sought, and what he found, were papers, documents, letters, which he knew to be in the possession of the victim. To find them, he overturned everything, upset the cupboards, unfolded the linen, broke open the secretary, of which he could not find the key, and even emptied the mattress of the bed. At last he found these documents. And then do you know what he did with them ? Why, burned them, of course ; not in the fire-place, but in the little stove in the front room. His end accomplished, what does he do next ? He flies, carrying with him all that he finds valuable, to baffle detection, by suggesting a robbery. He wrapped everything he found worth taking in the napkin which was to have served him at dinner, and blowing out the candle, he fled, locking the door on the outside, and throwing the key into a ditch. And that is all.

The Lerouge case (or Widow Lerouge) by Émile Gaboriau, Project Gutenberg.